I'm reaching out to Anime OST aficionados to help me with a specific request.

Most of my anime forays have been Yoko Kanno related. As you're aware, Kanno is somehow "special" in that directors apparently just hire her, she composes whatever, and then they cut her music to their animation. The OSTs, of course, retain the compositions in their uncut form.

I'm looking for more anime OSTs that have music like that. Most anime OSTs I browse have BGM that are obviously written as traditional music cues and precisely timed to the onscreen action (clocking in at an average of 1 minute, rarely exceeding the 2 minute mark).

I'm interested in more OSTs like this with what I consider to be full-length compositions.

Aside from Kanno, I liked all the other composers on that X CLAMP album. I'm also especially fond of the prolific Kohei Tanaka, Akifumi Tada, and Hayato Matsuo. I have all of Tsuneo Imahori's stuff as well, but he produces relatively little in the way of composition (please tell me if this database is missing any of his work!)

I'm really into retro stuff from the 80s and early 90s as well--again, so long as it's full-length BGM (not vocal tracks/songs).

There is another female composer who has some albums filled with fully developed pieces. If you aren't familiar with Michiru Oshima's works, you should take a look at her discography (her 90s soundtracks feature more full-length pieces).

The soundtracks for "The Weathering Continent", "Legend of Casshan" (1st soundtrack specially) and "Hana Yori Dango" (1st soundtrack which is very classical sounding) should fit what you're looking for. Also her soundtracks for "Blast of Tempest" and "Fullmetal Alchemist" contain some pieces fully developed, but not the majority of the full score.

It's a bit insulting to not call timed cues "full length compositions". Composers work hard to write music that lasts a specific amount of time and still sound good. It's hardly something worthly or relegating to second place just because they are short.

Would this topic have been responded to differently if I said "I'm loking for anime OSTs with longer tracks"? Because we can totally do it that way.

OSTs with longer tracks. OSTs with few(er) timed cues. That kind.

EDIT: a quick addition:

Quote:

Originally Posted by nextday

Almost every anime soundtrack has it's fair share of shorter cues - even Kanno's.

This actually isn't true. The vast majority of Kanno's anime scores have very few tracks shorter than 2 minutes in length. The few exceptions seem to be special cases, e.g. the Escaflowne movie which has a strict run-time and is a single work rather than a series.

I used Kanno as an example because it's clear she's treated differently by the directors she works with (and maybe that's just the directors? I don't know). Her compositions are completed seemingly without regard to how they actually are going to be used (specific to the scene, as a timed cue), sent off to the studio, and then cut to the show. I like that. I want more of that, specifically. That X-CLAMP album I linked is another good example because it's an omnibus of various composers. Imahori's scores for Trigun and Gungrave are also like this.

Please don't be ambiguous. What is long for me may not be long enough for you.

And as I said, most of anime series' soundtracks have solid structures and give you that sensation of "conclusion" in (almost) all of their tracks (with some exceptions such as Hina Logi or KonoSuba), but if you insist in looking for someone with longer tracks, try Sawano.

Would this topic have been responded to differently if I said "I'm looking for anime OSTs with longer tracks"?

Yes.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jormungand

The vast majority of Kanno's anime scores have very few tracks shorter than 2 minutes in length. The few exceptions seem to be special cases, e.g. the Escaflowne movie which has a strict run-time and is a single work rather than a series.

If you look through her discography, you'll see many of her soundtracks are about half-and-half when it comes to short/long cues. Turn A Gundam, for example, probably averages about 2:30 per track... which isn't that long. And yet it's still one of her very best scores. But this is getting off topic, so I'll leave it at that.

Anyways, you should maybe also look into the works of Taku Iwasaki. Many of his soundtracks have 0 tracks under the 2 minute mark and, like Kanno, he's known for writing whatever he wants. However, this also means that his soundtracks are very experimental and don't stick to a single genre. It really doesn't make for a great listening experience in my opinion. He's a genius composer, but in my opinion it's probably better to listen to a curated playlist rather than his complete soundtracks.

Vinphonic's list is a good start, though I'm sure you're already familiar with Matsuo and Sakimoto's anime works.

- Fractale has one of the best pieces ever composed for a modern anime: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uECEIPpmu2U
- Dantalian is a great chamber orchestra score with every track clocking in at 3 minutes.
- Glass Fleet is great, but the track lengths are deceptive. Most of the tracks are actually 2-3 tracks combined into one (with silence separating them).
- The Heroic Legend of Arslan - he's referring to the recent series with music by Taro Iwashiro, not the older one.

However, this also means that his soundtracks are very experimental and don't stick to a single genre. It really doesn't make for a great listening experience in my opinion.

This. His soundtracks are awful to listen to standalone. The previous Michiru Ooshima recommendations fall into the same category. They are usually not good standalone scores.

Taro Iwashiro is hit or miss but his Suisei no Gargantia soundtrack is one of my sleeper best soundtracks of the last 10 years. They are short tracks, but full, strong compositions.

Takayuki Hattori is pretty consistent genre-wise. I don't pick up every one of his scores but the ones I do tend to be outstanding. Also his fathers (Katsuhisa) work on Argent Soma is really good, just skip the DJ tracks.

Taku Iwasaki's albums definitely take some getting used too, though there are some that flow as albums better than others. I find the Akame Ga Kill albums flow excellently even with a bit of genre hopping. The Kuroshitsuji II soundtrack is also an oddity in Iwasaki's discography, in that there's nothing odd about it. No Opera Rap, no Orchestral Dubstep, no Trip-Hop with a trumpet run through a Wah pedal, no...whatever's happening in the Ben-To soundtrack ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gTN...Ab10TVzRQgIZ2e ) It's pretty much all classically influenced soundtrack affair.

Some individual soundtracks with longer tracks:
Jyo Oh Sei
Bamboo Blade vol. 2 (the first volume has a 6:20 track and a 14:17 track {which by itself is an amazing track}, but excluding vocal tracks, all the rest is less than 2:00, but the second volume is more consistently over 3:00)
Loveless
Serial Experiments Lain (with the exception of the "Bootleg" disc)
Texhnolyze
Inari Konkon Koi Iroha
Michiko & Hatchin
Dimension W

Some composers who tend towards longer tracks:
Shiro Sagisu
Shogo Kaida's anime works (wish he'd do more anime, the 91days soundtrack was superb)
Makoto Yoshimori
Yasushi Ishii (though most of his tracks are vocal tracks in some capacity or another. But still, he's a brilliant song writer)
About half of Yuki Kajiura's works. (Noir, .Hack//sign, Madlax, El Cazador De Le Bruja, Le Portrait De Petite Cossette, Pandora Hearts, the second disc of Kubikiri Cycle)